This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
More and more vehicles are being outfitted with cameras to detect lane markers, obstacles, signage, infrastructure, other vehicles, pedestrians, etc. The cameras can be used, for example, to enhance safe vehicle operation and/or to guide the vehicle during autonomous driving. While current cameras are suitable for their intended use, they are subject to improvement.
With respect to high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, multiple images taken with a single camera are processed and combined into a single HDR composite image. Each one of the multiple images typically has a different exposure value (EV) with a different amount of light, such as a first image that is normally exposed, a second image that is under exposed, and a third image that is overexposed. The images are aligned and then combined to obtain a final image. Such HDR processing of multiple images is computationally burdensome, especially for an autonomous vehicle system traveling at highway speeds. The present teachings advantageously include camera systems and methods that facilitate HDR processing and enhance the object detection capabilities of vehicle camera systems, for example. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the present teachings provide numerous additional advantages and unexpected results in addition to those set forth herein.